January 20, 2024 10:00 pm
• Last Updated: January 19, 2024 9:07 am
ATLANTA — Rasheeda Frost is one of a handful of original cast members on the enduring 12-year-old reality show “Love & Hip Hop: Atlanta.”
Despite on-and-off tensions with her husband Kirk Frost chronicled on the show, Rasheeda has been a mature and likable presence over the years amid the chaotic behavior of former cast members like Joseline Hernandez and Benzino.
She is also a businesswoman who owns a boutique clothing shop Pressed, a restaurant Frost Bistro & Bar and has her own separate reality show “Boss Moves” on Philo where she converses with celebrities such as Nelly, Jermaine Dupri and Cynthia Bailey.
Her presence is actually a bit of an anomaly on a show where many of the cast members are deep in the hip-hop world. The 11 seasons have been peppered with absurd arguments, marriages, divorces, cheating and the occasional charity event or launch party. It was born during the time when basic cable reality TV was at its peak, packed with shows like “Basketball Wives,” “Here Comes Honey Boo Boo” and “Duck Dynasty.”
The second half of Season 11 returned Tuesday on MTV.
Rasheeda, in an interview with The Atlanta Journal-Constitution, said so many people have come and gone from “Love & Hip Hop: Atlanta” over the years, she will see a clip of an old episode and realize she had forgotten certain people were even on the show.
In the meantime, she is the only person who has been a primary cast member all 11 seasons. The other OGs including her husband Kirk, Scrappy and Karlie Redd, have had secondary recurring roles either part of the run or the entire run.
“As OGs, we are really good with being the voices of reason,” Rasheeda said. “I try to stay in my lane, mind my business and not dig into the drama.”
For the most part, she likes most of her castmates and socializes with some like Spice, Sierra Gates and Yandy Smith-Harris even when the show is not filming. “We are in a group chat communicating with each other,” she said. “Most of us are moms and we have kids who have birthdays. We do all the regular stuff.”
At the same time, she would love to have a reunion of the season one cast, which included characters like Mimi Faust, Joseline, Stevie J and K. Michelle. That cast helped launch the show into a ratings powerhouse for VH1. (The show moved to MTV last year.)
“It was something special about that season one dynamic,” Rasheeda said. “You had sprinklings of different things. You had me and Kirk, the married couple. You had Stevie and Joseline. You had Scrappy and Erica. Karlie with all her craziness. There was a lot. It grabbed everybody’s attention.”
She said her own story line with Kirk this season isn’t quite as sexy as some of the other plotlines since they are in a good place as a couple. “We’re dealing with grown folks stuff,” she said. “Building generational wealth for our kids, keeping our businesses tight.”
For instance, her Frost Bistro restaurant survived COVID-19, she said, by focusing on breakfast and brunch. “We were thinking of closing but we chose to revamp,” she said. “God is good. It has been amazing.”
Rasheeda said the most infamous moment from the show connected to her that pops up the most on social media goes all the way back to Season 2 more than a decade ago. She was pregnant and having issues with Kirk. Her mom, Shirleen Harvell, was angry over his behavior and on camera backed into Kirk’s motorcycle with her SUV.
“Classic!” Rasheeda said with a chuckle.
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IF YOU WATCH
“Love & Hip Hop: Atlanta,” 8 p.m. Tuesdays on MTV and available on Paramount+.
